Couple Christine and Mike Birch have stepped in to save a town’s main post office.

The pair will open the branch at the former register office, in High Street, Leek.

It comes after the current post office based in Waitrose, in Buxton Road, is set to shut on September 22 - days before the supermarket closes.

The move will now go out for public consultation but there are not expected to be any issues and it is hoped the facility will launch in November.

Mrs Birch, who already runs Westwood Post Office, said: “We are going to invest a substantial amount of money preparing the premises for the new post office. It is actually near the original Post Office building, which was located in St Edward Street.

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"If successful, we will employ all our own staff. Some would come from our Westwood branch and we are interviewing some of the Waitrose staff. Hopefully we will employ about 10 people between the two sites.”

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“The High Street building is next to a car park and has on road parking adjacent.”

The Post Office had appealed for anyone interested in opening a branch to come forward after Waitrose revealed it would be closing its only North Staffordshire supermarket due to difficult trading conditions.

Post Office representative Richard Hall said: “Chris and Mike are working very hard to get the new business up and running in November.

“They are planning to increase the staff and complete work on the new offices.

“This building brings the Post Office back to the retail area and will benefit customers and retailers in the area.”